Thousands join Swiss lethal-drug right-to-die group

Exit, a right-to-die organization that provides lethal drugs so the terminally ill can die, has seen 13,413 people join up in 2014 - a 25 percent surge and a record number of new members, the group says.

The group says it has 81,015 members, an increase from 67,602 in
2013. The figures come from the German and Italian speaking parts
of Switzerland, while statistics from the French speaking part of
the country will be available in April.

Last year alone Exit heard from around 2,500 people who were
thinking of killing themselves, of which they looked into 900 and
helped a total of 583 people to end their lives. The most common
reasons for application were terminal cancer and chronic pain
disorders.

Assisted suicide is allowed under Swiss law if performed by a
person with no direct interest in the other person’s death,
although the lethal dose can only be made available to the person
who wants to die.

There are two main groups in Switzerland catering to people who
seek an assisted suicide, Exit and Dignitas. Some even come from
abroad to use their services.

The current surge in people wanting to be given the right to the
end their own lives is being attributed to an aging population, a
rising number of people suffering from dementia and more people
wanting to determine the course of their lives and end needless
suffering.

Last year Exit made headlines after a vote to extend its services
to elderly people who are not terminally ill but who may be
suffering from physical or psychological problems. The company
believes this also contributed into the 2014 figures.

As a result the company now defines assisted suicide as “the
right to the freely responsible death of a very old person
wishing to die.”

“Those very advanced in age will no longer have to prove to
the same extent as younger people that they are terminally ill in
order to receive services,” the company said in a statement
as it launched the service.

Assisted suicide is also legal in Germany, Japan, Columbia and
Albania and in some of the US states. Euthanasia, meanwhile, is
legal in Europe in the Netherlands, Luxembourg and Belgium.

The French parliament is currently debating a bill that will let
doctors put terminally ill patients into so-called “deep
sedation” until they die, but falls short of assisted suicide or
euthanasia.